NOT OVER YET
A.J. Hoffman: Like it or not, you haven't seen the last of Ken Giles
Jul 13, 2018, 9:17 am
Ken Giles will be back up at some point. Bob Levey/Getty Images
There was a bit of a sigh of relief across Astros universe when Ken Giles got sent down to the minors after Tuesday night’s meltdown and the potty-mouthed tirade that followed it.
Giles, who was solid for a majority of last season, became so unreliable in the playoffs that the Astros completely went away from using him. This season has been up and down for the hard-throwing reliever. He has been flawless in save situations, but we all know that not every high leverage situation is a “save situation.” When opponents have hit Giles, they have hit him hard. In 34 appearances, Giles gave up earned runs in 9 games. Not horrible, but not exactly vintage-Mariano Rivera either. In 4 of those 9 games he gave up multiple earned runs. Any time a reliever starts to get beat up, fanbases become frustrated. Giles’ case is no different. But here is the rub.
The Astros are going to need Ken Giles.
I know, I can hear you groaning and scoffing as you read that last line. Giles still has “stuff.” He throws harder than any other Astro, and as the season goes on Houston will need someone to come in and throw heat. After seeing Cionel Perez on Wednesday night, a left hander with an upper mid-90’s fastball who has dominated at the minor league level, I have a feeling he is with the big club for the long haul.
So when Giles comes back, and I believe he will come back, who will be the casualty?
Hector Rondon is likely to be the closer with Giles gone, and perhaps will stick in that role if Giles were to return. Collin McHugh has been phenomenal this year, and provides multi-inning capability. Chris Devenski was vital down the stretch last year, and has looked strong this season. Tony Sipp, a guy who every Astros fan was ready to throw on the scrap heap last year, has been surprisingly effective. Brad Peacock has been up and down, but would likely be “next man up” if a starter were to go down. That really leaves just Will Harris and Joe Smith. Both have been frustrating, although neither has been particularly awful. The reality is, at his best, Giles just has a higher upside than those two players.
Giles will work on things at Fresno, probably both mental and physical things, and the Astros will eventually recall him and hope for him to be a piece of their playoff run. Granted, they need “good Ken Giles”, and not “hold your breath Ken Giles.” Remember that they are invested in him. It is obviously in the organization’s best interest for Giles to earn his keep in Houston.
So, enjoy your late innings for the next few weeks, Astros fans. Ken Giles will be back in Houston soon, and while his days as the 9th inning man may be done, the Astros will need him to pitch in tough situations into the fall.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.